


A Bonding Moment

by iamnotafraidofspiders



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Lance is even more of an idiot, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pidge is an evil mastermind, Shiro and Hunk are actually great as wingmen, keith is an idiot, klance, pretty people stuck in closets together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 12:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8577760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamnotafraidofspiders/pseuds/iamnotafraidofspiders
Summary: Lance didn't mean to eavesdrop on Keith and Shiro's locker room conversation. But he certainly regretted it, hearing more than he was supposed to, and more than he wanted to. After all, who would want to hear their crush admit aloud that they were in love? Klance story, mild angst and fluff





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first Klance story, and its rough and poorly edited. Sorry about that. I'd really like to hear any criticism or ideas you all have, because I'd like to improve my stories for the future!  
> I started this show maybe two or three weeks ago, and in the time since, Klance has literally consumed my life. Hopefully at least a few of you can relate.  
> Enjoy the story and leave a comment! :)

It was another one of the team’s harder training sessions. Team Voltron had practiced every single team exercise Lance could think of, and every exercise he couldn’t think of, before they left for a break. The boy’s muscles were almost screaming in pain. He figured it was time for a nice, long, hot shower.

The locker room showers nearest the training deck were still new and unfamiliar to Lance. He usually used the private bathrooms, for his own convenience, and for his regular moisturizing rituals. But his well stocked private bathroom happened to be on the other side of the castle, and his legs also happened to be less than functional at the moment.

Oh, well. It wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary, was it? Plus, the towels in the locker room seemed to be extra thick and fluffy. Lance made a mental note to sneak some up to his own bathroom, just because he could.

Lance quickly undressed and hopped into the shower. The scalding hot water did _miracles_ for his back. It was like all the sweat, grime, and exhaustion were just sliding off of him. It left him with a sense of total satisfaction.

He was drying off in one corner of the locker room when he heard the door open and close loudly. Two sets of footsteps, two familiar voices.

Shiro and Keith. And they were talking about something that sounded incredibly important.

Not wanting to interrupt their conversation or act like an awkward third wheel, Lance did the only logical thing, and walked over to the nearest stall and hid himself before Keith or Shiro was able to notice his presence. That’s when he realized he’d be awkwardly eavesdropping on an important conversation.

With some very self deprecating thoughts running through his head, mainly along the lines of,  _Why me??_ He settled down and listened up to Keith’s desperate sounding voice.

“...just don’t know if I can handle it anymore, Shiro!” Lance frowned at this. Was Keith okay? Was something bothering him?

“I understand that your feelings are strong, Keith,” Shiro said, a bit of sarcasm laced into his voice. “I’ve heard enough of that to know. But you have to remember the importance of forming Voltron. We can’t let any kind of issues you have get in the way.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help it.” Keith whined. “It _hurts so much,_ to see him there and not be able to tell him how I really feel.”

“Then why don’t you tell him? You can trust him. You can trust the whole team! The way this bond works is mutual, no secrets between any of us…”

“Shiro, I _can’t_ tell him. There’s no way he could understand.” It sounded like the boy was on the verge of tears. “He’d be...disgusted if he found out.”

“Keith, he’s a good person. He wouldn’t be one to do something like that.”

“But what if he did? What would that mean for us as a team, or for Voltron?” Keith sighed, and mumbled quietly, “It’s better if he didn’t know I loved him.”

Lance remained quiet during the entire conversation, but alarm bells were ringing in his head. Keith, mullet-head, was in love with someone, someone on team Voltron. And Lance already knew it was going to destroy him.

Lance had just recently come to terms with his feelings for the Red Paladin. For months on end, he had been sure that the frantic beating of his heart was just adrenaline, or competition, from rivalry. He insisted that he would only glance at Keith because he was observing him, trying to get an edge on his rival. He told himself, as well as Hunk and Pidge, that there was _no way_ he was in love with Keith.

It took a long, lonely night in the training room to understand the depth of his own emotions.

It had been another night of terrible, aching homesickness. The nightmares that haunted him, visions of his family and his past, they began to come to life in his own room. Lance had felt trapped and afraid, and quickly fled outside only to feel more lost and afraid.

When Keith found him, and told him that it was okay,  and that everyone had weaknesses. He had seen everything beautiful in Keith, and fallen so deeply for it, that he had felt like he was going to explode. Even now he could feel the ghost of Keith’s warm, lingering comfort, and it was like a hand reached into his chest and squeezed his heart. He was such a goner. 

Why did it have to be him who needed to accidentally eavesdrop on his crush’s confession?

Above that, who could have possibly attracted Keith’s affection? What kind of sick, twisted fate was this? To only come to terms with how he felt to see the love of his life fall for someone else?

The sudden weight of this revelation suddenly crashed down onto Lance. Keith was _in love with someone else._ And he had to be the one to find out about it. He didn’t know who it was that had stolen the boy from him, but someone had done it and taken his heart.

It was _painful_. It hurt Lance like a deep ache in his chest, and he knew it wasn’t going to leave him anytime soon. He knew what this was, or at least he thought he did. And if he was, well, he didn’t really want to be. He didn’t want to feel as heartbroken as he did in that moment.

Before he knew it, the doors were opening and closing again, and Keith and Shiro were gone, and _fuck, what was he going to do?_

He slumped out of his hiding spot and just sat there in the empty locker room for a few long moments before letting a tear leak out. And then another, and then a series of sobs.

He didn’t even know how long it was when Hunk entered the room and silently held him there in comfort. Too long, probably. Still not long enough to let out the sheer force of anger and despair inside of him at that moment.

“Lance, listen to me,” Hunk said. “Are you alright?” Lance _was_ listening. That was the thing. But the tears wouldn't stop, and neither would the nonsensical ramblings of 'I can't believe he's in love' and 'holy fuck Hunk what am I gonna do’.

“Who is this about, anyways?”

A hiccup and another muted sob. “K-Keith, he…”

A look of understanding crossed Hunk’s face. Apparently his feelings were not quite as secretive as he'd originally thought. Keith didn't know about this, did he? Lance didn't know if he could bear the shame of being rejected. Knowing how Keith felt was difficult enough on its own.

“What do you need me to do, Lance? If there's anything...just let me know.” Lance nodded, and hugged Hunk a little tighter.

“Can I just...sit here? For a little bit?”

“Take as much time as you need, buddy.” Lance's smile came out as more of a grimace, but he truly was grateful in that moment to have a best friend like Hunk. What would he do without him?  


 

Hunk was quite honestly completely surprised when he found Lance in the locker room. He'd found out that Keith had inadvertently caused his best friend heartbreak. Of course he was surprised!

Not that Lance was totally in love with Keith. Everyone on the ship with eyes and ears could see the looks they gave each other, the sexual tension just hanging in the air whenever they were in the same room.

But, Keith? In love with someone else? That was the shocking part. To Hunk, everything in Keith's and Lance’s relationship seemed mutual. He had figured it was just a matter of time until one of them was honest with the other and confessed, and then their goddamn hormones would work themselves out.

Was Keith really in love with someone else?

Hunk didn't really believe that. He couldn't. There was a chance, however slim it was. But that chance was really fucking small. He'd seen those little love struck eyes Keith made at Lance, and the constant excuses he made up to talk to the boy. And then, on top of that there was the huge probability that Lance had just screwed up and been an idiot, and misinterpreted the whole thing. That happened too often (Hunk saw it enough as the guy’s best friend).

Hunk's official job as Lance's best friend included fixing the idiotic mistakes that he made. Hunk would fix this crazy mess, for his duty as a  Paladin and as a friend.

  


“Shiro! We need to talk!” Shiro was a little taken aback to see the Yellow Paladin in his room, completely unannounced. Not that he and Hunk weren't close or anything, just that he didn't figure he'd be a person the boy would go to for advice. Usually Hunk spoke closely with Lance and Pidge. So why would he…

“It's about Keith.” the boy said with a dead serious face.

Shiro groaned and put his face into his artificial hand, cradling it because he knew this was going to escalate into another mess. “What happened? Did he screw something up?”

“Yes, actually. Lance, to be specific.”

This perked Shiro’s interest. “Wait, _what_?”

“So, apparently that locker room conversation the two of you had wasn’t exactly private.”

Shiro set a death glare on Hunk. “Explain. Now."

 

 

Ten minutes later, both Shiro and Hunk were even more confused than they had been before the conversation even started. “Both of them are upset,” Hunk reasoned slowly, “That they're not into each other?”

“How does that even work?” Shiro mused. “Lance likes Keith, correct? Romantically, that is,” he waits a moment, and Hunk nods. “Keith also likes Lance. So what's the big deal they're making out of it?”

“Okay Shiro, let's start with the cause of the problem. That conversation you and Keith had in the locker room -- do you remember what you said?”

“Well, we were talking about Lance, and Keith was going all angsty teen mode on me. He kept on complaining about how he 'loved him so much it hurt’ and complaining that he'd ruin everything if Lance found out.”

“Okay, so that basically was a confession of Keith's feelings! Why was Lance...oh.” Hunk had a suddenly thoughtful expression on his face. “ _Oh._ ”

“Oh?” Shiro asked, with a look that said, _Please enlighten me._

“Did you happen to mention Lance's name? Like, at all in the conversation?”

“... _Fuck._ ”

Hunk sighed in exasperation. “So Lance heard the conversation, but he's assumed it's about someone else?”

“Are you kidding me right now?” Shiro said, desperately tired from the emotional wreck his teammates had unknowingly made. “We're gonna have to sort this out.”

“How can we get them together in a compromising situation that will force them to just be honest with each other?”

The two of them began to brainstorm, praying to the gods of Voltron that this would work out. It had to.

 

 

“Uh, Pidge?”

“What is it, Hunk? You want another addition to the fridge?” She smirked at him. “It was only last week that I put in the last one. How much food are you planning to store in there?”

“Pidge!!” Hunk squeaked. “I told you not to bring that up again!” The boy looked a little guilty, but they both knew his intense appetite wasn't really his fault. “Anyways, that's not why I'm here.”

Pidge’s brows furrowed tightly. “What's up?”

Shiro stepped out from behind the door. Pidge hadn't even heard him come into the room. ”We need some help getting our oblivious friends together.”

“Keith and Lance?” Pidge shook her head. “Don't tell me they screwed up again?”

The two boys nodded solemnly.

“I swear to God. This happens every week! It’s like a goddamn soap opera. When will it end? Can they just get together already??”

“Uh. That’s kinda the plan, Pidge.”

“Right, right. Sorry. Anyways, how will I be helping you two today? You guys got some genius plan you want help with or am I gonna have to work this bad boy out myself?”

Hunk and Shiro exchanged glances, and nodded determinedly. “We've got an idea. But we're definitely going to need your help.”

“Tell me what I need to do.”

  


Well, this was just great.

Keith was sitting in the corner, cursing his own bad luck. Of all the days his team had to fail him…

They had scheduled their normal afternoon training session for now. All of the paladins, plus Coran and Allura, were _supposed_ to be here. There was a startlingly empty presence in the room, except for Keith and Lance, which didn't make things much less awkward.

Lance had been suspiciously avoiding him, for an entire week. And it sucked. Not as much as his painfully unrequited feelings, maybe, but still a whole lot. Talking with Lance, just being with him, filled his day with purpose and happiness, not to mention the absolutely adorable jokes he’d make. Not that he’d ever admit it, but the pickup lines he used were _kind of_ funny. He'd been miserable without the boy's company.

Now that Lance was here, he wouldn't even make eye contact with him.

Keith wanted to scream at him, to grab him boldly and ask him what the hell he was thinking, and why he was so upset over something he wouldn't even talk about. He wanted to fix this. How was he supposed to fix things if he didn’t know what was wrong?

It had to be now. This was the perfect opportunity to confront Lance, to figure out why he’d been avoiding him. “Lance,” he said, his voice a little too loud for the room they were in. His voice traveled down the entire hallway.

When Lance heard his voice, his head whipped up to face Keith, who spoke again, “I--”

And _that_ was when the alarms began to go off.

Both of them cursed themselves for getting distracted. This was a Galra alarm. It wasn’t time for a heart-to-heart chat. They gave each other a look, and nodded in affirmation. Whatever feelings or issues might be between them, they needed to put all those things aside and work as a team. They then headed down the castle corridor in direction of the lions.  


 

Pidge looked mischievously at Hunk and Shiro from their planned position in the castle. Seeing Pidge's too excited grin, Hunk mumbled, “I almost feel sorry for the two of them.”

“Well it wouldn't have been a problem in the first place if the two of them would be a little more direct with one another!”

There was a short pause before Hunk answered. “Can't argue with that logic.”

Their timing was perfect. Lance and Keith rushed by at that moment to head towards the Galra attack -- which happened to be a well planned technological disturbance, courtesy of Pidge. There weren't actually any Galra ships invading.

Well, hopefully. Pidge hadn't planned for something like that.

In the meantime, they would put their Operation Klance into place. Pidge and Hunk shoved them into the maintenance closet that opened into the hallway. The two easily lost their balance and fell in on top of one another. Hunk and Shiro and shut the door, Pidge took care of locking it with the security system.

Pidge and Hunk could hear the muted screams of their friends. “We’ll only let you out when you resolve these stupid issues of yours!” Pidge said to the door. She knew they could hear her, but there was no verbal response.

Hunk shouted out, “We'll be back in about an hour, losers. Good luck.”

And then they left the two to themselves, knowing it was either the most idiotic plan they could have created, or the only one that would work.

 

 

Keith was going to die of heart failure one of these days. Thanks to his idiotic team and their ridiculous ideas.

Clearly _,_ sticking him into a closet with Lance was one of those. Sure, it made his heart race, and his cheeks flush so dark he _prayed_ Lance was nearly blind in the dark. But, realistically, they had to find a way out. There was only so long they could stand like that without their legs cramping up.

“You got any ideas on how to get out of here?” Lance called out, his voice sounding choked. It looked like Lance was thinking along the same lines as he was, but Keith was afraid that he sounded far too uncomfortable.

Then he remembered, Lance had been like this all week, avoiding him and all contact with him. Without explanation. And now was the perfect time to get one from him.

“Lance,” Keith murmured softly, hoping it would calm the boy down. But Lance's breaths only became louder and more rushed.  

“Yeah, Keith?” Lance's voice sounded strained and rough.

“You need to stop doing that.”

Lance seemed to jump a little bit. “Doing what?”

“ _That.”_ Keith said, sighing. “You're upset about something, you've been avoiding me, and _now_ you're trying to act like nothing is wrong!”

Lance coughed awkwardly. “There's nothing…”

“You are _such_ a terrible liar.”

Lance slumped down, decidedly giving up on hiding his evident dilemma from Keith.

“What's wrong?”

Lance's skin was a dark shade of red. Keith wondered if it was just the shadows playing on his skin, or if someone could really blush like that. It was precious.

“You're such an idiot, mullet-head,” the boy grumbled in a low voice. He took a step back from Keith and stood up, pressing himself against the closet wall. It seemed like he was trying to make himself appear smaller.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I heard you! I overheard you, in the locker room, with Shiro.” He paused a second, trying to gauge Keith's reaction. The Red Paladin looked frozen in panic before him.

Since he didn't respond, Lance continued. “I'm just...kind of upset, you know? Not about your feelings...I guess I’m just a bit upset that you didn't tell me before.”

“Y-you’re...okay with it?”

Lance put on a smile. Or at least, he tried to, although the ache in his heart was beginning to tear through him. “Of course, why wouldn't I be?”

Keith stepped towards Lance again, throwing his arms against his chest angrily and closing the little space between them. “If you knew how I felt, why didn't you say anything?”

Lance frowned in confusion. “Why would I--”

“You left my confession unanswered! I was so worried that I had screwed things up, Lance.” He looked up at him, hurt evident in his eyes. That was when he saw the confusion and panic in Lance’s. “Are you okay with...this? With how I feel?” His typical fear and panic rose up again. “Oh my God, I'm sorry. I don't want to make you uncomfortable...Do you want me to back off? Did I screw up again?”

Keith stepped back, and Lance just stood there, frozen, trying to process what Keith had just told him. _Answering his confession..._ that made it sound like Keith was confessing to Lance.

To...him?

“Lance, please just say something. I need to know how you feel.”

Silence.

“Dammit Lance! You can't just know how I feel about you and not give me any clue about your own feelings. It’s not fair!”

“Your own feelings? You mean, y-you...like me?” Lance asked, quietly.

“Wait a minute, did you not know before, or…”

“So it’s true?” Lance said, moving his face closer to Keith’s. “Just tell me, do you like me or not?”

“Of course I do--mph!” Keith was silenced when Lance kissed him. The boy then pinched himself, to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Lance just--kissed him. _Lance just kissed him._

“W-w-w-what?” Keith mumbled, a brighter shade of red than his lion. Everything was becoming fuzzy, and tight, and _Lance just kissed him._ “Did you just--”

“I feel the same.” Lance said, his voice serious and his eyes dark. “I like you, Keith. A lot.”

Something in Keith’s brain must have fried. This must have been a dream. There was no way Lance would have kissed him, and then launched into a confession.

God, he never wanted to wake up.

 

 

Keith leaned forwards without really thinking about it, his lips brushing against Lance’s almost dreamily. He could feel the soft sensation of Lance’s breath on his chin, they were so close.

Whereas Keith was gentle and hesitant, Lance was far too deep into the moment to stop there. He grabbed Keith’s shoulders and pulled him tight against himself, crushing the boy’s mouth in a passionate embrace. His tongue swiped out against Keith’s lower lip, and he moaned into Lance’s mouth.

“Lance,” he whispered, and then continued to repeat the boy’s name between kisses.

 

 

Neither of them knew how much time they spent knotted up in that cabin, making out, but when Pidge, Hunk and Shiro came to get them out, they were covered in love bites and red marks, very closely seated together. Lance even had a bit of drool staining the front of his shirt, courtesy of Keith.

Pidge didn’t even seem fazed. At least Shiro and Hunk had the decency to look away. “Come on guys, I think the bonding exercise should be about finished now. It’s been what, an hour and a half?”

Lance and Keith shared an alarmed look, the flush on their cheeks matching shades of red.

Pidge gave them another knowing smirk. “You can always continue later, if you’re that desperate.”

“PIDGE!” Lance screamed, his voice cracking. Pidge started laughing manically.

It took a while, but the rest of the Paladins did calm down eventually. The group disassembled, all with some crazy, lame excuses, leaving Keith and Lance alone in the hallway again.

 

 

Keith chuckled nervously. “Well, maybe we should...listen to Pidge’s advice?”

Lance looked at him adoringly, then smirked in that all-too-familiar Lance fashion. “Why wait until later, Keith?” He elbowed him mischievously. “We were having a _bonding moment,_ don’t you know?”

The two of them laughed and headed in the general direction of Keith’s room, unsure of what they really meant to one another, but honestly? They were too happy to care.

END~

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to leave a comment or some feedback! I'm hoping to post a few more things in the future, so any advice and/or feedback is appreciated. Thank you all :D


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